Following its show earlier this year in May, Motor City Comic Con is back in full swing this weekend, Nov 10-12. Pop culture fans from across the globe will once again flock to the Suburban Collection Showcase in Novi to shop, meet fellow enthusiasts, and visit with their favorite celebrities.
For the November edition of the convention, The Livingston Post spoke with one of this year’s celebrity guests – Veronica Taylor. Taylor is a renowned voice actor with a career spanning decades of voicing characters in anime, video games, and audiobooks. Perhaps her best known work is that of the Pokémon anime’s famed protagonist Ash Ketchum.
Pokémon is a media franchise that came to the US in the fall of 1998. With best-selling video games, a beloved TV show and movies, and a trading card game, Pokémon has become a staple of the 21st century.
Starting the role in 1998, Taylor had no idea just how big it and the franchise would become.
“No one had really heard of Pokémon before and we didn’t have cell phones to look things up,” she said. “We had computers, but nobody really used them so it wasn’t like you could search for something as easily as we can now.”
Taylor voiced Ash, and a plethora of other side characters, until being replaced in 2006. Within her eight seasons of the show, she also appeared in eight of the series’ movies.
“It is truly the greatest, greatest honor of my life to have been a part of something so important to people,” she said. “I’m a small part of that. But, gosh, it never ceases to amaze me and just humble me that going to work and just doing my best had an impact.”
And that impact can still be seen today – especially in Livingston County.
Recently, we ran a story about mother-son duo Diane and Alex Schemanske, who competed at the 2023 Pokémon World Championship held in Yokohama, Japan. Taylor was overjoyed about their story.
“Pokémon is the bridge between people and between worlds, it’s amazing! For them, it offered a way for them to connect, and look at what they’ve gotten to do,” she said. “They went to Japan and competed in a place where many people don’t ever get to be as good as that!”
Kids of yesteryear and today simply love Pokémon. We at the LivPo fondly remember going to the Brighton District Library to play in its Pokémon card game league, buying the books at Borders, and seeing the movies at the Historic Howell Theater. Friendships were made on the playground at recess via trading stories and merchandise.
“I’ve heard amazing stories with people who met their best friend or found their spouse. They would run home from school and watch it with their grandmother,” she said. “Someone recently told me Pokémon created love for animals and now they’re a vet, or someone else loved Cubone and is a fossil hunter. It opened many doors because I think, ultimately, Pokémon just ignites your creativity and your imagination.”
(For our readers who aren’t as knowledgeable about the show, this is Cubone)
Taylor looks back on her time working on the series fondly, and to her, the highlight will always be the impact it had and continues to have on youths everywhere.
“The privilege of meeting so many amazing people, and seeing how they have taken the great lessons of Pokémon deep into their hearts and become these amazing people – it’s really, really amazing,” she said. “I’m often at a loss for words for how stunning it is.”
Since leaving the world of Pokémon in 2006, Taylor has stayed busy with voice work in other anime and video games. Readers might recognize her in the popular Nintendo series “Fire Emblem,” or as the narrator in five audiobooks from the Warriors series.
Currently Taylor and her daughter, Rena, host a podcast, “The Trainer’s Guide,” where they rewatch episodes of Pokémon and give some behind-the-scenes information and other anecdotes.
You can find “The Trainer’s Guide” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon, and Veronica can be found as @TheVeronicaT on Twitter
If you’d like the opportunity to meet Veronica in person, she’ll be at Motor City Comic Con this weekend, Nov 10-12. Tickets can be purchased here.
